Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Corner Stable

Ages ago, my family would make a semi-regular trip to Cockeysville to gorge ourselves on fall-off-the-bone tender ribs at the Corner Stable. With one thing and another, that tradition has largely fallen by the wayside, and a visit to the Stable has become a rare thing indeed.

On a recent trip, the restaurant was packed full of hungry patrons, most of whom seemed to have baskets of saucy ribs within reach. We wanted to eat ribs, too, but felt it was a good idea to also sample some of the restaurant's other offerings.

The fried chicken was billed as "tender and moist." And that was a lie. While the coating was light and crisp, the breast meat underneath was quite arid. Mr Minx was glad he ordered applesauce as a side, because he needed the extra moisture.

I wanted to try the crab cake, so I ordered the "Showstopper," which included an 8oz jumbo lump cake and a full rack of ribs for us to share. There are many crab cakes in this town, and few of them meet my criteria of deliciousness. While not perfect, the Corner Stable's cake was pretty good. Maybe a bit too much detectable filling (which were like pockets of mush among the firmer crab lumps), but the meat was sweet and crabby. And those lumps were indeed jumbo; some were bigger than the top joint of my thumb. The slaw was like bad supermarket cole slaw, and completely disappointing, but the Stable fries were a thing of beauty. Crispy on the outside and moistly pillowy on the inside, they were what every fry should strive to be.

Is it me, or are baby back ribs getting smaller? These were only about 3" long. I know when I buy them at the grocery store, the ribs are at least half again as big, and a "full rack" is nearly as long as my arm. In any case, the meat was falling off the bones and coated with a pleasant, not-too-sweet sauce. Tiny, but enjoyable.

Except for the disastrous chicken and cole slaw, the rest of the meal was pretty good. Maybe not quite worth driving to Cockeysville during a tornado warning, but certainly fine fair weather fare.